Yes. There are three Babus, who are tormenting Chandrababu Naidu these days. These ‘Babus’ belong to the same assembly constituency and have excellent pedigree in the TDP. To top it, all the three are coveting the same post.

This is a story from the Sattenapalli assembly constituency in Guntur district. Rayapati Sambasiva Rao’s son Rayapati Ranga Rao aka Ranga Babu, former speaker Kodela Sivaprasad’s son Kodela Sivaramaprasad aka Peda Babu and local leader Malleshwara Rao aka Malli Babu want the coveted assembly incharge post for Sattenapalli.

While there is strong opposition to Kodela Peda Babu, because of his extortions and his high-handed ways when his father was the speaker, the other two Babus are equally popular. However, Rayapati’s son had to opt out of the 2019 elections due to pressure from Kodela family. This is working as a sympathy factor for him. Malleswara Rao is a local leader with deep roots and influence in the constituency. He too is eyeing the same post.

Chandrababu Naidu is unable to decide which Babu to choose from the three Babus. If one ‘Babu’ is favoured, the other two might raise a banner of revolt, he feels. So, as of now, Chandrababu has kept the decision pending.

The cash-for-vote scam dated back to 2015 which has sent shocking waves across the country took an interesting turn after the accused made shocking revelations in the much-talked-about case.

Going into details, the law enforcement agency Directorate of Enforcement(ED) which is digging deeper into the case, has reportedly got big through with Jerusalem Mathaiah, revealing the role of former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu name in the case.

Media reports claimed that, during the questioning, the ED sleuths have recorded the statement of Jerusalem Mathaiah in which, he said he has met Chandrababu Naidu and the then TDP leader Revanth Reddy at Mahananu meeting, with the instructions of a fellow Christian leader R Jimmy Babu.

According to the statement, Revanth Reddy asked him to meet Elvis Stephenson, nominated Anglo-Indian MLA, and make him convince to cast his vote for the TDP candidate Vem Narender Reddy in the 2015 MLC elections.

I told Revanth Reddy that the practice is unethical and unconstitutional. But he told me that it’s common in politics and said after Stevenson votes for the TDP leader, a sum of Rs 5 crore would be paid for him. If he restrains from voting, he would be paid a sum of Rs 3 crore. I was also offered to get Rs 50 lakh, Mathaiah reportedly told the ED officials in the statement.

I met Stevenson at his residence the next day and informed him about the offer. Though he didn’t believe the offer he displayed his eagerness to meet either Revanth Reddy or Chandrababu Naidu.

After these talks, Mathaiah confirmed the deal to TDP Christian cell in-charge, Sebastian, and told him to inform the same to Chandrababu Naidu and Revanth Reddy.

Somehow, Mathaiah got to know that, Sebastian and Revanth had met Stevenson and convinced him to cast his vote for the TDP leader.

He then asked Sebastian about his share of money in the deal. For this, Sebastian said, he would get his share after Stevenson gets an advance of Rs 50 lakh.

To Mathaiah’s surprise, the next day Revanth Reddy and two others were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the agency named him as A.4 in the alleged scam.

It has been widely reported that Mathaiah in his statement said he saw the video clippings in which Revanth Reddy can be seen giving cash to Stevenson and even head the audio clippings of conversation between Naidu and Stevenson.